Tuesday 11 May - Berlin

Arrived in Berlin and when I was getting out of the taxi at the hotel, the driver announced that this wasn't good. When I told him yes it was a good hotel, he told me I didn't understand - not a good area. lol. Evidently on the other side of the overhead train line is where the drugs are peddled, and on this side the transvestites hang out. Told him I'd stayed in a lot more dodgy places than this in my time and he just muttered as he left.

The central train station is massive and all glass. Really cool.

So - other than the fact that the hotel is full of bus-loads of teenagers and old people - the area isn't safe. Can't say as it appears at all dodgy - but time will tell.

I did walk past a few questionable bars today on the way to get on the hop-on hop-off bus - does a club announcing "leather, rubber and jeans" in big letters outside and a banner stating that it's a gay fetish club constitute dodgy???

lol. This one corner along from beautiful leafy residential streets of quite nice homes. And some not inexpensive restaurants around too as well as a couple of mid-range hotels. So maybe it's not all bad. Anyway, haven't seen any needle-bedecked druggies or overdressed, overacting he/shes.

Did the bus tour all the way today to start with and the first time I got off was to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Had to be done and the pin and charm had to be purchased. Bit disappointed in the decor of this one though, and the collection. They've only just moved from their old premises a bit further up the road into these new ones, and new they are. Unlike any of the others I've ever been in. All glitzy shiny tiles and glass (http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes3/cafe.aspx?LocationID=573&MIBEnumID=3).  The quesadilla was really good though and they make a good macchiato latte. And as always the staff are young, friendly and chatty. They do have the Gibson that Jimi Hendrix played on  the first tv interview he did after the Monterey Festival though. Nice piece of history. Oh and the contract signed by Janis Joplin and others in the Big Brother and the Holding Company - outlines the minimum requirements for the band. Interesting read.

Anyway. Got back on the bus and continued along around again as I wanted to stop at the Checkpoint Charlie site and look at the Wall Museum. This was something always in the background of my awareness of the rest of the world during my teens and twenties. And I distinctly remember being surprised and pleased for the German people and for the show of some sort of  sensical behaviour by the dark powers that be at the time. Since then it's sort of played some sort of representative role in the background for me. Pink Floyd performing The Wall at Potsdamer and all the symbolism in that helped to reinforce the feeling that a very dark and disturbing era was over. Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s I remember reading or hearing about various escape attempts (usually only the successful ones), and other bits and pieces that are vague.

Checkpoint Charlie and the view to the east

Visiting the museum and seeing the extent not only of the schism caused by the creation of the wall on the city, but on people's lives, and the extend they went to to try to cross over. I know from my time in Jordan and Egypt that the media usually only report what they think is palatable for their "western" audience, and the things people had to go through just to get back to family were incredible. Not only that, but I wasn't aware that as punishment one of the strategies employed by the east was to take away the children of people who were caught or suspected, and adopted them out to politically respectable people.

The view to the west from Checkpoint Charlie

I was also aware that the entire communist dominated European portion of the world was getting fed up with the regime and it's ways and the Cold War, and that the worker uprisings and mass demonstrations were happening. It's interesting to now have the dismantling of the USSR in a single context. This is all part of my contemporary history and putting all these pieces into place and context is quite fulfilling.

Checkpoint Charlie is a sort of symbolic relic from the era as are the remaining sections of the wall. They are a part of the fabric of Berlin and the dismantling of the barrier seems to underpin the unbelievable construction/reconstruction programs in place. I know there has always been a need to rebuild since the devastation of WW2, but the Wall is contemporary and in the living memory of a huge percentage of the population. There is an interesting difference between the construction undertaken in the east during the Cold War period and that of the west. As if the east wanted grandiose and the west wanted the past back.

Overall though Berlin is quite beautiful, and the overall residential building style is the same as in the other German cities I've been to. 5 or 6 story apartment buildings all abutting each other and generally painted in different colours, making a wonderful tapestry of colours, especially with all the springtime green of the trees that line streets and boulevards.

I think Berlin must be the capital of Europe for graffiti. Maybe because it became almost ritual to adorn the Wall with it, but it's everywhere and really good artwork too. There's a whole long section of the remaining Wall that is all art work panels signed by the artist as an outside gallery, but I really liked the entry to this train station, at one end.

Although a lot of the original Berlin was lost in WW2 due to allied bombing, a fair bit has been rebuilt. I also found it interesting to see that a lot has been subsequently built that's reminiscent of previous architectural eras, and parts of the original building are incorporated into the build without seeming to be out of place.

The Gendamenmarkt


There are of course a number of original buildings which give a small glimpse of how truly beautiful and grand the pre-war Berlin must have been. It's no wonder people gathered here as artists and that the vibrancy that came with Cabaret pretty much spawned here.

The Brandenburg Gate

Well tomorrow I'll go check out some of the museums. I've used the subway now and it's not hard.

Oh yeah - it's cool to see the trains above the street like they are in some US cities, but the station buildings are really lovely. Will take some pics tomorrow and show you.